Arrived!

My Mum and Sheila (her long-time travelling companion - they've been extradited together from France, China, Russia, India, New Zealand, etc.) have arrived in SF.  So has a food parcel!

Look out California.

Not quite enough Marmite...

Bonny Doon

The Haas wine club has been a little quiet of late - shocking in any student establishment.  But tonight they came back strongly with a talk from Randall Grahm, the "leader" of Bonny Doon winery.

This place is pure California.  Biodynamic, New Age, idealistic, etc.  Randall is the definition of ex-hippy (including ponytail), which led some to suggest that he might be growing more than just grapes on his property.  Whatever, the wine was delicious and he was a fascinating and utterly compelling speaker.  "This is what business school is all about!" Amir exclaimed to me as we walked to catch the bus.  He'd been drinking...

The manifesto.

Ready to sample!

Randall Grahm - the man.

Hannah checks out the bottle...before slipping it into her bag.

Passover

It's that time again (which happens roughly once every two months) when there's a Jewish holiday!  Today it was Passover - a little bit early, but who's counting?

After their superlative Rosh Hashanah dinner last September, Dana and Amir decided to see if they could fit even more people into their apartment.  Thirty-five of us gathered around three tables stuffed with food, while Elad and Shauli (both excellent rabbinical material) took us through the seder, the ritual part of the meal.

This is where it got fun!  There are many parts to this tradition that retells the key events of the book of Exodus, with a few later teachings of rabbis and fun customs thrown in.  There's eating and drinking.  There's reading.  There's singing.  And there's an awful lot of arguing because everyone's family does it a bit differently.

Yet, in the more modern traditions of University Village, everything worked out perfectly.  Parts were read in Hebrew and in English, with accents ranging from Texas to New Zealand and Israel to Argentina.  I'm pleased to report that the angel of the Lord did indeed pass over the house, but had he popped in he would certainly have been invited to stay for a drink.

Tables set and ready to go.

A few tasty morsels that have to be eaten at very specific times (although there was plenty of argument exactly when those specific times were...!)

Hannah oversees a plethora of salads.

Shauli does his best rabbi impression (and did very well).

I had the "honour" of eating the karpas for the table - a boiled vegetable, wrapped in lettuce, dipped in salt water.  I don't remember that bit of the Bible.

Guy breaks the matzo bread in a move blatantly stolen from the Anglican Eucharist.

This bit is the mah nishtanah (I think) where the youngest children get to sing the question of "why is this night different from other nights?"  Maya is ably supported, as ever, by dad Elliot.

Daphny studies the text in detail to discover where it says "now you can eat".

Fini lends her Argentinean vocal cords to the post-meal songs.

Survivors photo.

Is Amir hinting that it might be time for the guests to leave?

Visitors

Adam and Rachel, friends from the old country, are in SF for a couple of days before enjoying a road trip around Northern California.  I met them this morning on Pier 39, and indulged the guilty pleasure of doing touristy things including grabbing our free chocolate from Ghiradelli's and brunch at the Boudin bakery.

Boudin is the famous place that does clam chowder in a sourdough bowl, but we sampled their breakfast menu: an omelette...in a sourdough bowl.  With fries.  Yum!  We chatted, we reminisced, and I bid farewell to them far too soon as they departed on their cruise to Alcatraz.  Come again!

A healthy little spread for brunch.

Adam and Rachel.  Welcome to The Rock!

Thank you for the days

It's recruitment season, and so Haas is pulling out all the stops to wine, dine, and generally impress any prospective students.  Part of this is Days at Haas, a three day weekend of fun and frolics to convince potential students that California is the place (who needs convincing?)

Having taken photos for the >play conference last year I was on the list of potential snappers and, with a little string pulling by Dana (a far more accomplished photographer than me), we got to enjoy a ride with the partners around the Berkeley neighbourhoods on Friday and a trip to wine country on Saturday.

We all had a nice time chatting, selling the delights of university village, but mainly drinking wine.  Once again, the benefits of alcohol to social interaction were well demonstrated although Dana and I were only allowed to partake on the way back due to the fact we were "on duty".  Nice work if you can get it!

If you think the students are impressive, wait until you meet the partners!

Here we are, introducing ourselves.

On the bus, heading to the Berkeley hills.

Invading a three-bed house in the village.  My knowledge of living here was tested to its limits ("it's $1.25 for a laundry wash, but an extra quarter gets you a super wash!" I heard myself saying at one point).

The next day, Veronica welcomes everyone onto the wine tour with an eloquent and moving speech about why you should come to Haas...

Waiting for tasting at the Folio winery.

Line them up!

Current students/partners had to hold back to let the prospects go first.  Shocking!

Dana "Paparazzi" Pelleg prowls outside for the best shot...

...but I've already taken it!

A quick change of vineyards to Diamond Oak.  This was a much more pleasant tasting room than the last one.

Dana enjoys a cheeky Pinot Noir.

Back on the bus and on the way home.  Then the party really started.

Have they been drinking?

Expo-sing myself

This week saw the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.  It was a kind of technology conference, the 2.0 representing the (supposed) next stage in the Internet.

What it meant for Haas students was a chance to network, see where the industry's going, and find job and internship opportunities.  What it meant for me was playing with some nice toys and getting a lot of free pens and t-shirts.  And luckily I'm a friend of Amir, who with his business connections managed to get everyone free entry!

The place was certainly impressive, and walking into the hall I was immediately greeted with big signs proclaiming Microsoft's, ebay's, IBM's, etc. next big things.  There were also several stands of smaller, start-up companies.  Some of them even seemed to have good ideas!

But I was left wondering what these businesses actually do.  No one makes anything, no one even sells anything, but everyone seemed happily confident that they'd turn a profit before the venture capital money runs out.  I'll check the names on the t-shirts I got in 12 months and see how many are still in business...

The swish looking conference centre.

Everyone's here!

Well, I am, sort of.

Dana and Amir feign interest, while I take the free pen and run.

One good turn...

Haas students have to perform a certain number of hours of community service in order to earn their MBAs.  This is an excellent idea, but there's some debate about whether these hours can be earned vicariously through partners.

These were my thoughts as Dana and I met with Cycles for Change, a co-operative bike shop where velocipedes can be bought, earned through community service, done up, taken on field trips...pretty much anything you can think of if two wheels are involved.  A call went out at the business school for someone to write them a website, and we (were) volunteered.

The bike shop is great, a real community place where kids and adults can develop skills and have fun.  It's positioned on The Alameda - a 2,500 acre ex-naval base jutting out into the Bay, next to Oakland.  The military buildings and hangars are still there, and while many stand empty a number are used as social housing, for projects such as Cycles, and for the odd business.

Our meeting there finished with the magic words "have you been to the vodka distillery at the end of our road?"  Five minutes later we were in a tasting room, being offered one sample for free or ten for $10.  For some reason we were sensible, but we'll be back and in greater numbers.  Maybe a bicycle will be the best form of transport after that.

Across The Alameda to SF.  This place is big!

So why not put a distillery here?

The hangar-now-vodka-place that used to house a squadron of A6 E Intruders known as The Firebirds.

My kind of establishment.

Yes, it really is a hangar with a distillery in it.

And they make lots of tasty treats.

Dana samples their Aqua Perfecta Pear Liqueur, which was dangerously delicious.

I went for Qi Black Tea.  Mmmm, interesting nose...